Dear Members and Visitors to GoodTherapy.org,

Today a virtual gathering of 112 GoodTherapy.org Members enjoyed the second teleconference in our 2009 Teleconference Series: ‘Conflict Resolution: Skills for Couples & Counselors’ presented by Susan Heitler, Ph.D. Thank you Susan for sharing your work and teaching us about the art of conflict resolution.

Dr. Susan Heitler, Ph.D. graduated from Harvard in 1967, earned a masters degree in education at Boston University and then a doctorate in psychology from New York University. Susan has been a private practice clinical psychologist in Denver for 30 plus years and has made significant contributions to the theory and practice of psychotherapy. Her primary mission has been to highlight for therapists the importance of becoming an expert at conflict resolution. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Concord Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Jolyn Wells-Moran, PhD, MSW

Conventional wisdom has insisted on complete abstinence for people who have drinking problems, but moderation may be better advice. The current issue of the Harvard Mental Health Newsletter reports that it may be best to recommend that men have up to two drinks per day and women, one drink per day. This is certainly a conservative definition of moderation for many drinkers, but an amount unlikely to cause ill health effects. The authors explain that individuals who are alcohol dependent will probably not be able to control the drinking to that extent, and therefore, may realize their alcohol dependence and seek help.

After all, how many people who are dependent on alcohol take advice from anyone to abstain? It’s common that alcoholics who eventually accept treatment, do so because of some type of serious consequence of their drinking. The loss may be of a marriage, a home, a job, relationships with children, prison, serious health problems or something else. No one can say what will convince a particular dependent person to quit drinking, but advice is rarely a motivation. Some people with alcohol dependence never quit for good. Learning for oneself that just a drink or two per day isn’t possible may provide an individual with evidence that he or she needs treatment.

For other drinkers, moderation can prevent the terrible sinkhole that is dependency on alcohol. The progression from excessive drinking to dependence to the ill health and social effects of alcoholism is much more easily understood by someone who drinks too much, yet hasn’t developed a dependency and the denial that accompanies alcoholism. Drinking in moderation is attainable for this group and can save them from that dangerously rocky, downhill road of alcoholism.

©Copyright 2009 by GoodTherapy.org All Rights Reserved. Questions or concerns about the following article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment to this blog entry. Click here to contact Jolyn and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile.

By Jeanette Raymond, Ph.D.

Click here to contact Jeanette and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

Shantal’s relief at opening her front door lasted exactly one minute. One look at Andre’s face told her that he was overflowing with irritation. She braced herself for the complaints he had stored up during her absence at a work conference. The barrage began right away. Shantal escaped to the bedroom. She crawled into bed without bothering to unpack, and tuned out. She felt like a dumpster being filled with four days worth of stinking trash.

Andre put his arm around his wife and nibbled at her ears. That usually turned her on, but not this time. She said she was tired after her trip and wasn’t in the mood for sex. Andre let out a big sigh. He had been looking forward to making love with his wife. He had hoped that a few days apart would make her want him again. His imagination went wild with images of a frustrating sexless marriage. That would be unacceptable What was he to do? He didn’t want to cheat, and he couldn’t tolerate the thought of Shantal looking elsewhere for sexual satisfaction. Read the rest of this entry

By Will Nuessle, Ph.D.

Click here to contact Will and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

“I feel fine every time she’s around me now
And she’s around me now, almost all the time
When I’m well you can tell she’s been with me now
And she’s been with me now such a long, long time
And I feel fine”

“Every now and then the things I lean on lose their meaning
And I find myself careening
Down to the place I must not let me go.
She has the power to go where no-one else can find me
And silently remind me
Of the happiness and good times that I know.”
~James Taylor from “Something in the Way She Moves”

The words in this James Taylor song express the need for love and understanding that we all want from a safe nurturing relationship. Unfortunately many times it is difficult for people to form the secure trusting relationship bond that leads to a calming effect on upset emotions. Instead relationship conflict can often send a couple into a seemingly endless and very destructive cycle of either blame and recrimination or pained withdrawal. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Jolyn Wells-Moran, PhD, MSW

Persuasive evidence of the same genetic cause for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia was published this month in Lancet, January 16, 2009. The study, conducted by medical scientists in the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institutet, a Swedish university medical center, included two million families. There has been a growing body of evidence that suggests a link between the disorders, but the researchers claim this study shows positive proof, according to a press release from Karolinska Instituet.

Karolinska’s researchers looked at records of 35,985 people with schizophrenia, 40,487 people with bipolar disorder and their relatives. Both genetic and environmental factors were considered and they found that genes played a remarkably larger part in determining incidence of both disorders than did environmental factors. They concluded that: 1) people with a relative who has schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are at greater risk of developing one of the disorders; 2) people with a relative who has one of the disorders are likely to have another relative with either one of the disorders and; 3) people with schizophrenia are more likely to develop bipolar disorder than others. The study found that sisters and brothers of people with either disorder were nine times more likely to develop bipolar or schizophrenic disorders.

This news is important to researchers who, for decades, have studied the disorders independently of each other. Bipolar disorder is classified as a mood disorder and schizophrenia as a psychotic disorder in the current and previous DSM, the most commonly used diagnostic manual in North America. This information is also likely to be of interest to genetics counselors and families in which one or more members have or had either or both of the disorders.

©Copyright 2009 by GoodTherapy.org All Rights Reserved. Questions or concerns about the following article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment to this blog entry. Click here to contact Jolyn and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile.